Expert replies: How many ODIs were won by last-ball 6?

Expert replies: How many ODIs were won by last-ball 6?

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South Africa's Ryan McLaren recently won a one-day international against New Zealand by hitting a six off the last ball of the match. How often has this happened in One-day internationals? - Navneet Rajput

This was the sixth such instance in One-day internationals.

Pakistan's Javed Miandad was the first batsman to do so, when he hit Chetan Sharma for a six to give Pakistan a thrilling one-wicket win in the Australasia Cup final at Sharjah in April 1986.

The next such instance came after about 13 years. With South Africa needing four runs to win off the last ball, Lance Klusener hit New Zealand's Dion Nash for a six at Napier in March 1999 to give his side victory by two wickets.

Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor provided the third such instance at Harare in August 2006.

In this third match of the series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe needed 17 runs off the last over and it boiled down to five runs off the last ball. Mashrafe Mortaza sent down a full-toss and Taylor dispatched it over mid-wicket to give his side an improbable victory. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the fourth batsman to accomplish the feat when he hit Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas for a six at Port-of-Spain in April 2008.

The West Indies, in fact, needed 10 runs off the last two balls. Chanderpaul hit a four off the penultimate delivery and then a six to seal the match.

Zimbabwe's Ed Rainsford was the last batsman (before McLaren) to do so. Against Ireland at Harare, in September 2010, he hit Kevin O'Brien to give his side victory by two wickets.

Three new grounds in India-England ODIs, a first time?

Three new grounds were used in the India-England ODI series -- Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala. Is this a record for a bilateral ODI series that was not the first series hosted by that country? - G Sharath

Using three new grounds for a mega event like the World Cup is no big deal, but for a bilateral series it's rather unusual. My initial thought was three new grounds in this India-England series should be a record for a bilateral series; but, as it turned out, it is nowhere near the actual record.

New Zealand's Glenn Turner is second with 40, followed by AA Obanda (38) and Carlton Baugh (35).

In Twenty20 Internationals, Pakistan Shoaib Malik has played 48 innings without getting dismissed in this manner. He is followed by England's Luke Wright (34), Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (30), West Indies' Kieron Pollard (28) and West Indies' Darren Sammy (27).

Image: Kapil Dev in action during the 1987 World Cup semi-final against England at the Wankhede stadium.

Five days later, he made his ODI debut and took a wicket off his very first ball, when Mohammad Hafeez offered no shot to his in-swinger and lost his off-stump.

There have been a few players who have taken a wicket in their first over in One-day internationals or Twenty20 international for India, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the first and only one to do this in both formats of the game.